Supreme Court Sentences Four Convicts To Life Imprisonment Without Remission For 1996 Lajpat Nagar Bomb Blasts

A Supreme Court Bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sanjay Karol has sentenced four individuals accused in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case to life imprisonment without remission. The Court upheld the conviction of two individuals and restored the sentence of two other former death row convicts.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave and AOR Kamini Jaiswal, among others, appeared for the appellants side. ASG Sanjay Jain, among others, appeared for the respondents.

In this case, the Supreme Court heard appeals from the convicts and the State. 

In 1996, a bomb blast occurred in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar Central Market, resulting in the loss of 13 lives, injuring 38 people, and causing extensive property damage. The Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF), designated as a terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Delhi Police arrested six suspected Kashmiri militants and two others, including a woman, for their alleged involvement. Certain mafia figures were also named as accused in the blast.

In 2010, a local court sentenced three of the convicts to death and imposed life imprisonment on another individual. However, in 2012, the Delhi High Court acquitted two of the death row convicts and commuted the sentence of another to life imprisonment, criticizing the police for prosecution lapses. 

The Supreme Court took the considered view that the prosecution had proved the guilt of the accused in the commission of the crime, and that all of them were part of a conspiracy, as under Section 120B of the IPC.

Further, the Court relied on the case of Mohd. Farooq Abdul Gafur v. State of Maharashtra, to observe that "a Court may choose to give primacy to life imprisonment over death penalty in cases which are solely based on circumstantial evidence or where the High Court has given a life imprisonment or acquittal".

In light of the same, the Court observed that "In view of the conspiracy, as discussed above, and the facts at hand, including mitigating circumstances as against the punishment of death penalty, we consider it a fit case to award life imprisonment without remission, extending to natural life".

Cause Title: Mohd. Naushad v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi)

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